Gretel makes Peace
by Daniellekiwi
Summary: 70 years have passed since the day Bruno died and Gretel finally lets herself forgive herself.


I wrote this while listening to "rainymood" in one tab on youtube and "Amazing Grace by Calikokat" on another. It sets the mood nicely.

Amazing Grace: watch?v=XPU47skGbYI  
Rainymood: watch?v=AYw7eJYadco

The rain dripped mournfully to the cold pavement, pattering loudly down the window. Wishing it could take her with it; send her sorrows crashing to the end, sat a woman, as pale as the moonlight with hair that glowed in the candlelight. But for all the beauty she possessed came the sickening loneliness of being truly seen. Was this the same rain that fell all those years ago, the rain that silenced life and brought pain? No, for it did not taste the same. Gone was the sickening sweetness of flesh and powdered ash, instead frailty and cleanliness followed. Were the rains pure enough to wash away the stains?

The woman sighed, twisting her hair in her hands before tucking it into a deep maroon bonnet, tucking away all emotion and memories with it.

"Nana, Papa wants to get going."

The woman turned to see her granddaughter's deep almost black eyes smiling up at her. So innocent was she of just how painful she was to look at for the woman; for it was not the grandmother whom the young girl mirrored.

"Thank you child,"

The little girl smiled, skipping off down the hall, consumed in her childlike wonder innocent of just what today meant, excited because of the presence of her Nana. But today would mean something very different for the lady in black, it would mean digging up her past and facing the ghosts.

"Entschuldigung." She murmured in apology for her tardiness, smiling to her son as she slipped into the warmth of her lined coat,

"English," her son gentle reminded, taking her arm in support.

"Sorry,"

Her son just nodded. He looked so much like his father, who had been deceased for 4 years. Marriage had lead the old woman to become a British citizen, for love it seemed knew no formalities when it struck deep… but even the title of "citizen" could never heal the scars of who she was, and the past that ever haunted her.

Climbing into the large minivan belonging to her son she marvelled at the spacious room. It always took her by surprise just how the 'auto-mobile industry', as she called it, had changed and how fast these 'cars' could now go. Man had certainly grown in knowledge over the years. Would that same knowledge offer her forgiveness or condemn her?

"Let me sing a song for you Nana," the child chimed, "I have been practising and Mama says I am really good!"

The grandmother smiled in approval, "I would like that,"

The girl began, a soft and true melody resounded, never faltering in key or note, the words lilting with such beauty. The old woman wondered if the young girl knew just how powerful the words were that she uttered so perfectly.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..."

The old woman shuddered, and wished the burden of remembering would leave her as the car swerved into place outside the field of stone markers. Stepping out onto the watered grass the world seemed silent, as if it too was holding its breath, not daring to utter a word.

"Mother, you do not have to do this,"

"I need to…"

Her son nodded, leading her through the rows upon rows of tombstones. Some were ornate, cast in white and freshly cleaned; others grew into the ground, swallowed by the earth. Her son lead on until at last they came upon the markers that were meant for them. They were small and set apart from the others by a weeping willow tree with low hanging branches. The perfect spot for adventurous young boys, her husband had decided all those years ago. The old woman felt her body's resistance to go nearer, for never before had she looked upon these particular graves.

_Here lies Bruno. Explorer and beautiful son. Born 1935. Died 1944._

_Young Boy, name unknown, victim of the Nazi atrocities. Age approximation eight years old. Died 1944. May you finally find peace._

The man watched his mother lightly finger the aged stone, tears springing to her eyes as she did so.

"We changed, you know." The old woman whispered to the carvings, "even Father changed." Images of a broken man being led off by the Red Army flashed in her mind. Slouched over, the man welcomed the sentence of death for he had long since been dead in spirit.

"I was so caught up in the glamour and excitement of it all. I wouldn't listen to you; I thought you were a hopeless case… ignorant even. Your ideals went against everything I was taught, everything those in power believed. As it turns out, I who was the ignorant one. May you be up there continuing to explore, breaking all boundaries and giving love without judgement."

Gretel turned, letting her gaze soar over the horizon as she dared to utter the words she had been hiding away for so long,

"Forgive Me."


End file.
